The Bad News Report

[Blue_Devil]

14 minutes ago, davidclt said:

I was going to put this in the Photo of the Day forum but that was too cheeky even for me. Regardless, per the GAO: GAO-21-518, FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Should Better Assess Privacy and Other Risks, the State of North Carolina has a substantial database of photos (as does South Carolina) - this bothers me greatly:l

If we want to add alternatives to police forces, and make communities safer, this is one of the ways to do it. 

[davidclt]

3 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

If we want to add alternatives to police forces, and make communities safer, this is one of the ways to do it. 

Alternatives to fewer police include more mental health care, more crisis intervention professionals. I'm not sure if we need this level of surveillance everywhere to be secure (sure it's secure  but at what price?).

 

[nicholas]

So, small town parking enforcement is not allowed to leave chalk marks on car tires to keep track of parking times, due to courts ruling that action a violation of the 4th Amendment. But Clearview and other facial-recognition ventures are allowed to collect and analyze billions of pictures of us at will?

There is a great podcast called 'The End of Privacy As We Know It?' done by I believe the New York Times.  It gives a lot of insight into Clearview AI, and how evasive the company and its founders have been despite having an enormous amount of data on everyone else.  Definitely worth a listen if you are not yet concerned about where this technology is heading.

[tozmervo]

5 minutes ago, nicholas said:

So, small town parking enforcement is not allowed to leave chalk marks on car tires to keep track of parking times, due to courts ruling that action a violation of the 4th Amendment. But Clearview and other facial-recognition ventures are allowed to collect and analyze billions of pictures of us at will?

Not debating the point you're making, but the ruling on that case was pretty specific. This article summarizes pretty well: https://www.llrmi.com/articles/legal_updates/2019_Taylor_v_City+of+Saginaw/#:~:text=PARKING ENFORCEMENT MEETS THE FOURTH AMENDMENT On April,car is being moved%2C violates the Fourth Amendment.

[KJHburg]

Now if this turns out to be true this could doom the Piedmont Lithium mining operations in Gaston County.

Gaston County commissioners investigate claims that could halt lithium mine – WSOC TV

[Matthew.Brendan]

“Hundreds of acres between Dallas and Cherryville is believed to be a part of the richest source of lithium in the world.”

Just means that if the yokels screw it up then eventually some big money will move in and make it happen. 

Lithium will absolutely be needed en masse for decades to come. The industry titans will not just let this go to waste. 

The schadenfreude of watching petty fraud sink the ship of billions in economic activity is really quite fitting for Gaston county. 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Matthew.Brendan

[KJHburg]

Well if it is biggest lithium deposit in the world or one of the biggest the company needs to be a lot forthcoming.  To me they are not building support for the project which is needed but actually causing people to be skepitcal of their intentions with landowners.  If this was happening somewhere in Meck County the public oppostion would be much more intense given these sets of circumstances up to this point.   From what I have seen and heard from local Gaston officials they have not been forthcoming about their plans or details.  That is a problem. 

[tozmervo]

Having family that has dealt with coal operations in Kentucky, I have a very strong distrust of these kinds of operations. Unscrupulous is the kind word for it. The burden is on the company to make this happen, not Gaston county leaders. 

 

[KJHburg]

Business travel is still way down and the hotels which is most in Charlotte that cater to them are still struggling.  I would not look for many hotels to be built and you forget about a 1000 room convention hotel at least for 5 years or more.  From the Biz Journal:

""Revenue from business travel at Charlotte hotels this year is projected to decline by 73% from 2019, according to a new forecast by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Kalibri Labs.  In 2019, business travel generated sales of $589 million for Charlotte hotels. This year, that figure is expected to decline to $157 million — a difference of $432 million. Nationwide, the study predicts the industry will finish the year with revenue of $30 billion from business travelers, a decline of 66% from two years ago, when sales reached $89 billion.  The figures reflect what Charlotte tourism executives have said through much of this year. Leisure visits have largely returned but higher-revenue business travel remains moribund. As a major financial center, Charlotte has long filled hotel rooms on weeknights through client and employee meetings among bankers and their advisers. For the past 18 months, Zoom has ended much of that activity — taking away corporate-fed premium room rates as well as sales for airlines, restaurants, cabs and other travel-driven companies.  The AHLA, in an accompanying statement about its latest findings, described the pandemic as the “worst economic event in the history of the U.S. hotel industry.”  Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority CEO Tom Murray told CBJ during a recent interview that, on a 28-day rolling average, weekend travel was up by 9.5% versus 2019 while weekday revenue fell 45%.   "North Carolina is experiencing a similar decline. Business travel statewide is predicted to drop 61% this year compared with 2019 to $855 million. South Carolina business travel will likely fall 48% to $753 million."""

Leisure travel has largely returned to Charlotte which is good news as evidenced by the Labor Day football games.  

Charlotte business travel forecast to drop 73% by end of 2021 - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Business travel is still way down and the hotels which is most in Charlotte that cater to them are still struggling.  I would not look for many hotels to be built and you forget about a 1000 room convention hotel at least for 5 years or more.  From the Biz Journal:

""Revenue from business travel at Charlotte hotels this year is projected to decline by 73% from 2019, according to a new forecast by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Kalibri Labs.  In 2019, business travel generated sales of $589 million for Charlotte hotels. This year, that figure is expected to decline to $157 million — a difference of $432 million. Nationwide, the study predicts the industry will finish the year with revenue of $30 billion from business travelers, a decline of 66% from two years ago, when sales reached $89 billion.  The figures reflect what Charlotte tourism executives have said through much of this year. Leisure visits have largely returned but higher-revenue business travel remains moribund. As a major financial center, Charlotte has long filled hotel rooms on weeknights through client and employee meetings among bankers and their advisers. For the past 18 months, Zoom has ended much of that activity — taking away corporate-fed premium room rates as well as sales for airlines, restaurants, cabs and other travel-driven companies.  The AHLA, in an accompanying statement about its latest findings, described the pandemic as the “worst economic event in the history of the U.S. hotel industry.”  Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority CEO Tom Murray told CBJ during a recent interview that, on a 28-day rolling average, weekend travel was up by 9.5% versus 2019 while weekday revenue fell 45%.   "North Carolina is experiencing a similar decline. Business travel statewide is predicted to drop 61% this year compared with 2019 to $855 million. South Carolina business travel will likely fall 48% to $753 million."""

Leisure travel has largely returned to Charlotte which is good news as evidenced by the Labor Day football games.  

Charlotte business travel forecast to drop 73% by end of 2021 - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

So many thoughts running through my head on this:

Recently completed a bunch of virtual workplace training on what to do in the office in the event of an in-office shooting.  Also thinking about the CEO who was shot and killed walking in front of the Omni when a stray bullet blasted from the epicenter.  Makes you wonder if we really need to rush back to all this travel and in-office advisory.  

On the other hand, there is a school of thought that says if a growing share of companies are doing hybrid or remote work, maybe that makes "Conventions" or corporate "Mass Gatherings" even more strategically important for those companies.  It's the occasional chance for employees to actually get together in person for updates and culture/trust-building.  Conventions and convention hotels for these emerging "remote-only" and "hybrid" companies might be a bull case.  

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

Looks like without much local fanfare Charlotte has lost another major event.  The NASCAR All Star Race will be in Texas next May and this is a big loss for tourism as many came and stayed the entire week between the All Star Race and the Coca Cola 600 still here on Memorial Day weekend.   It filled up 1000s of hotel rooms for multiple nights  in Cabarrus and Mecklenburg counties.  Why absolutely no care for an event that brings in millions and millions to this area whether you attend or not?  and yes I know it was there this year 2021 but thought it was because of Covid restrictions but seems to be a permanent loss for this area. 

The All Star was very well attended/

2022 NASCAR Cup Series Schedule | NASCAR.com

Edited September 18, 2021 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

The good and bad and the ugly on tourism dollars spent in NC in 2020.   Business travel and convention centers like Mecklenburg and Wake crashed far more than beach destinations with lots of homes to rent like Dare, Currituck and Brunswick.  Leisure travel has bounced back all over the state and the region but business/convention travel is still way down.  

All-County-Data.pdf (visitnc.com)

NC down 32% but Mecklenburg County down 51% Wake down 43% but Mecklenburg is still the biggest in dollars spent.  

[JHart]

3 hours ago, Seabrooke said:

https://www.macroaxis.com/invest/ratio/BAC-PD/Probability-Of-Bankruptcy

Current Bank Of America Probability Of Bankruptcy

75%

LOL. Listen man, you made a little money off a memestock, be happy about that. The total collapse of the global financial system isn't happening.

[Blue_Devil]

1 hour ago, Seabrooke said:

LOL. Listen man, you can keep reading Motley Fool, Market Watch, CNBC, or any other hedge fund owned media conglomerate to feel safe and secure with the financial system. I wish I could unlearn what I have learned and bury my head in the ground like an ostrich, but unfortunately not possible.

We keep getting “all time highs” in the stock market, but do you ever stop and ask yourself “is this the strongest the economy has ever been?”

Daily Reverse repo over a trillion, hyper reality of money where NFTs of rocks sell for millions, crypto outperforming gold, and a ton of other oddities that make no sense. We are in Tulip mania all over again.

Also, the ‘memstock’ monicker should be dropped and replaced with ‘small caps’ because the entire Russell 2000 is starting to pop off in quarterly waves. The shorts are not covering their positions and still hope to bankrupt GameStop, AMC, and a ton of other businesses. But that is just a catalyst for margin calls. Not going to collapse the economy.

Bank of America has a lot of exposure to the market makers and hedge funds that could cause it to become insolvent. After margin calls, we will see that they were just a part of the bond scheme that  is most troubling. Just the tip of the iceberg with Evergrande in China. We still have our own predicament with crap bonds that haven’t surfaced yet. Citadel, Ashley Capital, Dearborn Madison, and friends. 

I’d suggest looking for information outside of what is being cherry picked by hedge funds for you to consume. Market crashes are actually the best time for retail investors to become wealthy.

“Why did no one see it coming?“ Queen Elizabeth II on 2007/2008 financial crisis.

 

Why use BAC-PD, vs just BAC on that site... which shows 48%, which is in line, or even lower then its competitor banks? BAC-PD was a preferred offering, called back in 2011... It makes no sense to use this as any measure... 

 

Edit: Here is BAC on that site: https://www.macroaxis.com/invest/ratio/BAC/Probability-Of-Bankruptcy

44%, lower then JPM for example or WFC... 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Blue_Devil

[JHart]

1 hour ago, Seabrooke said:

I’d suggest looking for information outside of what is being cherry picked by hedge funds for you to consume. Market crashes are actually the best time for retail investors to become wealthy.

I read Reddit for fun so it is funny to see posts like this that are just one big copy paste of all the reasons why we are so close to blowing the top off the global markets but the big bad hedge funds keep doing illegal things to stop it and not, a bunch of people made 1000X their investments in memestocks that popped and hedge funds took a huge loss but we will continue to sucker people into holding a wildly overpriced stock to maintain its crazy evaluations. 6 months ago you were sure it was about to go any day and in 6 months you'll be back again. 

The link you posted said there is a 75% chance of BOA going bankrupt which absolutely would trigger the largest financial meltdown we've ever seen. EVEN IF all of the conspiracy theories you are reading on highly moderated, anonymous forums with no actual economical backing behind it were true; the US still wouldn't allow BOA to go under.

[Blue_Devil]

Just now, JHart said:

I read Reddit for fun so it is funny to see posts like this that are just one big copy paste of all the reasons why we are so close to blowing the top off the global markets but the big bad hedge funds keep doing illegal things to stop it and not, a bunch of people made 1000X their investments in memestocks that popped and hedge funds took a huge loss but we will continue to sucker people into holding a wildly overpriced stock to maintain its crazy evaluations. 6 months ago you were sure it was about to go any day and in 6 months you'll be back again. 

The link you posted said there is a 75% chance of BOA going bankrupt which absolutely would trigger the largest financial meltdown we've ever seen. EVEN IF all of the conspiracy theories you are reading on highly moderated, anonymous forums with no actual economical backing behind it were true; the US still wouldn't allow BOA to go under.

I mean, he isn't even using actual Bank of America stock on that Analysis... 

[JHart]

5 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

I mean, he isn't even using actual Bank of America stock on that Analysis... 

You ever sniff too much glue in your mom's basement?

[RANYC]

Message threads have commented on economic reverberations of the abortion law in Texas, and the Georgia voting reforms that some argue have resulted in more hinderances to voting, with those reverberations presumed to be largely negative to those states.  This Mark Robinson video broadly categorizing homosexuality and transgenderism as filth is getting a significant amount of national attention.  I barely ever think about the guy in the lieutenant governor seat, but to people outside the state, this execration coming from someone so high up in our power hierarchy doesn't reflect well and makes us look like a place to be avoided for companies actively engaging LGBTQ talent and promoting general tolerance.  Mark refuses to apologize, and it makes me wonder what he thinks of the CEO of Apple whose management team recently decided to put Apple's East Coast HQ in Raleigh.  Mark, can you answer, is Tim Cook practicing filth?  Can the republicans in the NC general assembly also answer if one of the largest incentive packages given in state history went to a company run by someone practicing filth?  I'm still waiting to hear a NC republican come out and rebuke Mark's comments.  Is their silence a nod of agreement?

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/10/09/north-carolina-lieutenant-governor-mark-robinson-orig-ak-kj.cnn

Edited October 12, 2021 by RANYC

[go_vertical]

33 minutes ago, RANYC said:

Is their silence a nod of agreement?

Yes.... yes it is. 

[joenc]

2 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

Why use BAC-PD, vs just BAC on that site... which shows 48%, which is in line, or even lower then its competitor banks? BAC-PD was a preferred offering, called back in 2011... It makes no sense to use this as any measure... 

 

Edit: Here is BAC on that site: https://www.macroaxis.com/invest/ratio/BAC/Probability-Of-Bankruptcy

44%, lower then JPM for example or WFC... 

44% based on what? I don't want to look at this too much, but it's probably treating the financial indicators of a bank the same way as any other company.

[kermit]

5 hours ago, RANYC said:

Is their silence a nod of agreement?

When was the last time the republican party was pro-business in any way other than lowering  tax rates?  (and even tax cuts could be argued to be bad for business when those cuts defund infrastructure, education and police). 

I honestly can't remember an across the board pro-business, policy from republican administrations in Raleigh or DC anytime in the past decade (as opposed to policy tailored for special interests and specific donors -- see the fight over the NC beer distribution bill). Make no mistake, Robinson's remarks are anti-business and anti-growth and the remainder of his party appear to be fine with that anti-business stance.

Edited October 13, 2021 by kermit

[kayman]

17 hours ago, RANYC said:

Message threads have commented on economic reverberations of the abortion law in Texas, and the Georgia voting reforms that some argue have resulted in more hinderances to voting, with those reverberations presumed to be largely negative to those states.  This Mark Robinson video broadly categorizing homosexuality and transgenderism as filth is getting a significant amount of national attention.  I barely ever think about the guy in the lieutenant governor seat, but to people outside the state, this execration coming from someone so high up in our power hierarchy doesn't reflect well and makes us look like a place to be avoided for companies actively engaging LGBTQ talent and promoting general tolerance.  Mark refuses to apologize, and it makes me wonder what he thinks of the CEO of Apple whose management team recently decided to put Apple's East Coast HQ in Raleigh.  Mark, can you answer, is Tim Cook practicing filth?  Can the republicans in the NC general assembly also answer if one of the largest incentive packages given in state history went to a company run by someone practicing filth?  I'm still waiting to hear a NC republican come out and rebuke Mark's comments.  Is their silence a nod of agreement?

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/10/09/north-carolina-lieutenant-governor-mark-robinson-orig-ak-kj.cnn

 

16 hours ago, kermit said:

When was the last time the republican party was pro-business in any way other than lowering  tax rates?  (and even tax cuts could be argued to be bad for business when those cuts defund infrastructure, education and police). 

I honestly can't remember an across the board pro-business, policy from republican administrations in Raleigh or DC anytime in the past decade (as opposed to policy tailored for special interests and specific donors -- see the fight over the NC beer distribution bill). Make no mistake, Robinson's remarks are anti-business and anti-growth and the remainder of his party appear to be fine with that anti-business stance.

I don't see that big dummy surviving to see a 2nd term. He's guaranteed that he's a fool that too many people didn't pay attention to when voting last November when we had Yvonne Lewis Holley as an alternative.  At the rate the non-urban counties are shrinking the proof is in the pudding...

[atlrvr]

Welp, Bank of America beat estimates on every metric.  Top line revenue, bottom line profit, net-interest-margin, fee income, and also had $600mm reduction in reserves against potentially risky loans.

Maybe they wait until next quarter to go BK?

[atlrvr]

I factually disagree with a majority of that analysis about financial markets, but if everything is what you say, how do you arrive at the conclusion that owning AMC stock at prices above pre-COVID is the best financial trade available?  Or is the new trade to short BAC?

[Desert Power]

Isn't there some other thread to house this weapons-grade bullcrap?